In 1786, the ale house was bought by public subscription and converted for use by the ‘Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion’ as an evangelical Methodist chapel.

By 1819, the chapel was being used by the Society of Protestant Dissenters (later the Congregationalists), led by Rev. William H. Wiffen. They built a new chapel (now the Masonic Hall) in 1827 and moved again in 1871 to Christchurch.

The chapel was sold at auction in 1829, this time to the Wesleyan Methodists, until their move in 1853 to a building later destroyed by fire in 1876.

The Market House then became private property known as ‘The Old Independent Chapel High Street’ and may have been occupied briefly by the next owner, John Coles.